Alrighty before anyone says anything about e-machines the tower is the only thing left from e-machines and even then I believe I will be switching to a different tower...so no flaming about the damn company cuz I know they suck. Anyways I have decided what card I want to go with seeing that, everyone else tells me to buy it with my system specs. Which is again:

AMD Athlon 2700+ (about 2.1 ghz)
512 Ram (DDR I believe and I think Kingston 2 stick 256mb)
Dual fan PSU forget the watts and too lazy to check but the thing is brand new and amazing
New Motherboard Intel or something I'm too lazy to check once again.
Basically everything else is new to but there is probably no need for me to explain what else is in the computer. What I need to know is should I get 9800pro 128 or 9800 pro 256...or 9800XT? 128 or 256. Is it necessary for 256? and whats the diff between power color radeon and ATI radeon if there is any. Debate...

The prices for video cards again I forgot to mention:

Power Color Radeon 9800 PRO 128M $249 CANADIAN

...And the rest of the prices are about the same if not maybe less than american prices slightly...and by that I mean newegg.com

The extra ram gives you NO performance boost, even in some cases it has lower performance then the 128 brothers due to qaulity of the ram, And I would say eithe rgo with 9600 XT, 9800 Pro, Or 9800 XT. And remember 9800+ in ATI cards youhave to have a power plug in freed up for the card. Thats one reason I got a 9600, But either of those cards would work.. and one more thing ATI is radeon.. radeon uses ATI chips "color" I beleive mustbe a company that sells the cards using the ATI radeon chipsets.

hmmm so no performance boost eh? anyways I've noticed that sapphire radeon 128 and then an ATI radeon 128 both 9800 pro are the same from the same site tigerdirect.ca seems as tho the ATI radeon costs more then sapphire radeon...don't get the difference

ATI manufacturers the GPU unit & also manufacturer's video cards using the GPU. They run the GPUs/RAM at specific settings...these are generally know as reference cards or reference settings.

ATI also sells GPUs to other manufacturer's who build video cards. These 3rd party manufacturer's don't have to adhere to the reference settings...in many cases, they'll reclock the GPU or use different/cheaper RAM. So it's important to compare specs.

Powercolor is a reputable manufacturer.

Here's a list from Tom's Hardware that covers the specs for some "older" cards:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html

As Avun said, 256MB is unnecessary & in many cases, the RAM used in the 256MB cards has a higher latency than the 128MB cards. If you check the benchtests, the 128MB cards almost always beat the 256MB cards of the same model, so you're paying more for lower performance.

Another good point Avun made is that the 9800Pro HAS to be connected to the power supply. The 9800Pro is "power hungry" & the AGP slot doesn't provide enough wattage. So if that's the card you plan on going with, make sure your PSU is up to the task. If it's not, go with the 9600XT.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

if the 128 card is better then the 256 card as far as clock speed and memory quality, it is better. Radeon 9800 Pro 128 AGP would be my choice...

the 256 is only good when you play on high settings cause games these days eat a lot of memory. as you can see in reviews of graphics card, they are both equally the same around the 800x600 resolutions but once you get into the 1600x1200 resolutions the 256 cards come out over the 128mb cards, if you dont need those high settings and resolutions go save yourself 100 bucks and go for the 128mb 9800 pro or xt whichever one fits your needs

dont forget you have to plug the 9800 pro directly into your psu thats why im getting the 9600 xt

yeh my powersupply is pretty good costed quite a bundle actually 350ish? Canadian...so like 250 american about.

HUH? NO one pays $350 for a power supply! I don't even think you can find one that costs that much...lol

How about posting the brand name, total wattage, & amperage on the +12v rail.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

You most certainly can spend $350 for a power supply!

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=T85SSI

"T85SSI Turbo-Cool 850 SSI $469.00"

Or $350 Canadian ($250ish USD)...

"T51ASL Turbo-Cool 510 ASL $239.00"

Never underestimate the speed at which fools can be separated from their money! :-)

"Republicans in Congress are moving to ratify a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, thus ending the Iraqi insurgency."

LOL...I stand corrected! (& probably should have known better)

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

JEEPERS! Gosh.. and I thought what I done with my power supply was stupid.. the stupider thing would have been to spend 500 dollars on a new one! LOL